CITY VOWS MORE YOUTH PROGRAMS TO CURB CRIME

Action is in response to recent shootings; police chief urges public input on the case

Oceanside council members vowed this week that the city will embark on a renewed effort to increase recreational programs and other services in violence-plagued city neighborhoods.

The move at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting was in reaction to the shooting death of two teens and wounding of two others in Libby Lake Park earlier this month.

“I know a lot of people are concerned with what’s going on,” Mayor Jim Wood said.

Police Chief Frank McCoy said no arrests have been made, but “our detectives have been working around the clock on this particular case.”

McCoy urged the public to contact police with any information they have, “even if someone calls up and wants to be anonymous.”

He said extra patrols have been added around Libby Lake Park as a deterrent.

“We’ve had officers out on foot in the park area. We’ve handed out fliers in the neighborhood to see if there are any other witnesses who would come forward,” McCoy said.

At the urging of Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, the council unanimously voted to ask City Manager Peter Weiss to come back in 45 days with an action plan that shows what’s needed, where it’s needed and how to pay for it.

“It’s a small investment in our neighborhoods compared to what could happen,” Sanchez said.

She also called for the city to coordinate its efforts with the Oceanside Unified School District.

Councilmen Jerry Kern and Gary Felien said they agreed that the city must act to stem the violence, but warned that the city would have to cut spending elsewhere to do it.

“Choices have to be made,” Felien said

Eastside resident Angel Jarquin said one problem is that, because of budget cuts, recreation centers aren’t open when children get out of school and need them.

The council also unanimously agreed Wednesday to call for new bids on site work needed before 22 soccer fields can be built at the city’s sprawling El Corazon property in central Oceanside. Original bids came in far higher than what officials estimated.

But in a 3-2 vote, the council decided against updating a 2009 study aimed at estimating the cost of planned public improvements to the property, a 465-acre former sand mine on Oceanside Boulevard between Rancho del Oro Road and El Camino Real.

In other business, the council by a 3-2 vote upheld a Planning Commission decision to allow Waste Management to build a compressed natural gas fueling station at the company’s Oceanside Boulevard complex.

Kern, Felien and Councilman Jack Feller voted against updating the El Corazon study and in favor of the Waste Management project. Wood and Sanchez voted for the study and against Waste Management.

Waste Management’s plan to build a natural gas fueling station was criticized by people who live near the 2141 Oceanside Boulevard site; they say it’s already too noisy and that the fueling station would make it worse.

Nadine Scott, who lives near the site, called the situation “inhumane.”